Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 5/5 Stars
Voxmotive 2 for Soundbox follows on from the earlier Voxmotive package and takes on a similar format, but offers a somewhat different vocal style and different performers. In all there’s around 1GB of audio material arranged as 41 presets, and though Soundbox can mix and process up to four layers of samples, the vocal phrases that make up the bulk of this library require only a single layer. However, there’s also a selection of pad‑like sounds built on heavily processed and layered vocals that make more use of Soundbox’s layering capability. Voxmotive 2 is described as ‘New Age Cinematic Vocals’, and I think that pretty much sums it up.
For those unfamiliar with Soundbox (reviewed in SOS Nov 2025), it can be run on both desktop and iPad machines and is MPE compatible. It supports all the current plug‑in formats including AAX and — best of all — it is free of charge and comes with a useful section of free audio content. Soundbox is easy to use and the built‑in Soundbox Editor is enabled when you add any paid Audiomodern Soundbox instrument, allowing you can create your own presets. These may combine samples from different libraries, including Audiomodern libraries, third‑party Soundbox libraries, and your own imported samples. Most Soundbox libraries are very affordable, yet you may be surprised at just how good they are.
Voxmotive 2 comprises short vocal phrases from four different female vocalists, Anna, Elisa, Nacre and Yoanna. The library also includes the aforementioned pad‑like layers plus a few intimately spoken phrases in a choice of English, MU (which I suspect means Made Up) or Welsh. These sound really evocative and would make great ear candy for a new age or ambient track. The English phrases are certainly very new age in nature (‘We speak only when the Earth allows,’ ‘The silence remembers everything’ and so on) and if MU really is made up it certainly sounds very believable and could easily pass for Elvish. While the earlier Voxmotive combined the occasional ethnic, world‑music vibe with processed cinematic sounds, textures and punctuations, Voxmotive 2 sounds more whimsical.
All the vocal phrases are in minor keys but if you need them in a different key, it is easy enough to transpose them in Soundbox. And if you only need half a phrase, you can massage the note lengths in your grid editor and then either use a little reverb to disguise the rapid cutoff or increase the sample release time slightly in the Controls section of Soundbox. Similarly if the timing isn’t quite what you want, you can bounce a part as audio and then use the tools in your DAW to re‑time and/or re‑pitch parts to suit your needs.
There’s a welcome lack of excessive processing, with just a dusting of reverb in most cases.
All four voices have their own distinct character and while there are no actual words to the musical phrases, the delivery still sounds powerfully emotive. There’s also a welcome lack of excessive processing, with just a dusting of reverb in most cases. There’s a lot of really useful material here and once you’ve unlocked the Soundbox Editor by buying this or previous Soundbox packs, there’s plenty of creative scope for layering with samples from other libraries.
At just €39 this library has to be considered a real bargain, and if you buy it together with the original Voxmotive, which I also really like, there’s a further discount to be had. There are also further large library bundles available, many costing less that a single sample library from other companies, so I can really recommend exploring Soundbox if you haven’t already done so.